Gavin Pratt has steel in a dodgy right knee and gold, surely, in his index finger.
Has to, we reckon, given said fingerprint is used as part a state-of-the-art security system to unlock every door we walk through here inside a UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas worth $20 million.
Doesn’t matter if you want to use saunas, plunge pools, Octagons, lifting stations, force plates, underwater treadmills, cryotherapy chambers, even a machine measuring your susceptibility to concussions … Pratt, and that right index finger, has access to every one of them.
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Which in a few weeks, will make this 44-year-old Australian one of rugby league’s most important men — especially given some $36 million worth of NRL talent will effectively be under his watch.
As Director of Strength and Conditioning at the UFC Performance Institute, Pratt will be working with all four competing clubs – Brisbane, South Sydney, Manly, and the Roosters — both before and after their hyped 2024 season opener.
Apart from gifting each of the teams access to the PI in preparation for game day, Pratt and his crew will also assist the players with recovery before flying home.
All of which continues the incredible yarn that is this West Australian ex-pat who also assists the likes of boxing megastar Terence Crawford, Las Vegas Raiders players and UFC featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski – who is himself headlining UFC 298 in Anaheim, California this Sunday.
Born and raised in Perth, Pratt seemed on the way to footy stardom himself in AFL before being brought undone in his late teens by that dodgy knee all metal and missing tendon.
“I was born with a bipartite patella,” he tells Fox Sports Australia on Super Bowl Sunday morning, having just gifted us an exclusive tour through everything the NRL will soon have access to.
“It basically means instead of one bone, my patella has two.
“And playing footy it messed up, they moved my tendon, cut out a piece of patella and I’ve now got steel in there.
“Because the knee is bunged up too, your back shifts and gets twisted.
“And because of all the rehabbing the gym became my second home.”
Which is also how Pratt, who went from East Freemantle Colt of the Year to playing just seven games over the next two winters, eventually moved into conditioning with the same club before then shifting to the Gold Coast — running gyms and completing a Masters degree – before heading to China and training Olympic hopefuls.
During his time in Shanghai, Pratt also assisted with a Chinese surf program – riding a dangerous river wave which, dubbed the Silver Dragon, only breaks during a full moon – and then in 2019 switched to the city’s newly-formed UFC Performance Institute.
Three years ago Pratt moved again, this time Stateside to head up the elite Institute where some 100 UFC fighters are either based full-time or train intermittently – among the latter group stars like Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya.
This Sunday, Australia’s UFC featherweight champ will look to defend his gold strap for a sixth consecutive time against undefeated Spaniard Ilia Topuria.
The card has strong connections with the NRL given it also includes UFC middleweight contender Robert Whittaker – who, along with his Sydney-based team, have worked as wrestling coaches for South Sydney, Penrith and now Canterbury – while heavyweight Justin Tafa, who will be looking for yet another undercard KO, played lower grades with Melbourne Storm.
Volkanovski, too, has worked with St George Illawarra, whose players will no doubt be cheering him in arguably the toughest test of his storied career this weekend.
When fighting in Las Vegas, the Windang star always finishes camp at the Performance Institute and is so beloved by staff even the security guard who welcomes us this particular Sunday hails him “the UFC’s greatest advertisement”.
The issue of concussion is one Pratt is keen to work on with NRL players during their time in Las Vegas, particularly the Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles who will spend the most time using Institute facilities.
Late last year, the UFC director was invited back home to Australia where he spoke at a gathering of strength and conditioning coaches about his work in the area of head knocks.
The UFC Performance Institute regularly has fighters use a Force Frame – which measures neck strength and concussion susceptibility – and a Senaptec sensory station.
The latter involves fighters standing in front of a giant TV and testing their motor processing speeds by touching the screen when certain coloured dots appear.
“With the Force Frame we measure neck flexion, extension and lateral flexion,” Pratt explains. “That, and how much force you can produce in each of those.
“We also look at the symmetry.
“So if you have a flexion to extension strength of below 0.6 to one, your risk of concussion goes up.
“The Senaptec is about seeing something and reacting. Seeing a punch or tackle — and bracing.”
Pratt is also keen to get superstars like Reece Walsh and Latrell Mitchell onto the institute’s force plates so they can compare NRL data against that of the UFC’s biggest names.
“Definitely the biggest role we’ll play be recovery,” Pratt said.
“The team’s will be using our fields near here for their Captains Run and also our hot and cold plunges, our saunas, even the underwater treadmill if they want to get some runs in without too much stress and impact.
Volk & Whittaker chat upcoming opponents | 02:35
“But we’re really keen to do some testing with any of the boys who are interested too.
“Particularly in regards to the neck stuff we’re doing, which is leading the way in that area.
“We’ve had the All Blacks do testing and their results were phenomenal.
“So I’d love to see the numbers from another collision sport like rugby league.
“It’s an area that is really gathering traction because of the importance of the new concussion protocols and the issue of keeping athletes in the game.”
With a smile, Pratt says he has another reason for wanting to see rugby league’s best up close too.
“I’ve always thought there is so much potential for NRL guys to cross over into the UFC,” he reveals.
“There is just that wrestling base, a grappling base that translates so well to MMA.
“I’ve really enjoyed seeing guys like Paul Gallen and Sonny Bill Williams switch and I’d definitely be interested to see what some of these other guys could do.”
